MasterCard to monitor ‘far-right’ cash flows

Are "We" already being subject to a social credit score?

Ex-auto czar paying $6.2M in SEC settlement

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/nov/18/ex-auto-czar-paying-62m-sec-settlement/

The justice of White collar crime.
What a god damn joke.
Note that Obama chooses him to be "czar", corruption makes for good political positioning.
And one more time the SEC takes a payoff with no guilt admitted.
Well I guess they have to do that or there wouldn't be to many left to work the wiles of Wall Street.


The Obama administration’s former auto czar agreed Thursday to pay $6.2 million to settle civil charges over his role in an influence-peddling scandal involving New York state’s public pension fund.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement with investment banker Steven Rattner. As part of the settlement, Rattner will also be barred for at least two years from working in the securities industry.

The SEC alleged that Rattner and his private-equity firm Quadrangle Group provided kickbacks, political favors and personal benefits in 2004-05 to get access to business from the state’s $125 billion pension fund.

Rattner neither admitted nor denied the charges that were filed in a federal court in Manhattan. But he agreed not to violate the securities laws in the future

Financial Crisis Panel Delays Report on Crash Amid Republican Opposition

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-17/financial-crisis-commission-delays-report-to-obama-congress-until-january.html

The SEC needs to go. Had they actually been doing their job, the FCIC would have not been necessary.
The former chief account for the SEC, thinks the FCIC is a waste of money, what does that tell you kids?
Collusion with the banks!
To much dirty laundry has been laid out for all the world to see, for the idea of the FCIC to be a waste of money.
What I personally hope doesn't happen is the burying of the body parts under the brunt of to much bogus bullshit like was done in the 9/11 commission report.
It's time for the "oligarchs" to live up to and take credit for their personal obligations in the financial meltdown of this country.


Congress created the FCIC to investigate the causes of the 2008 financial crisis, which triggered the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and led to U.S. bailouts for companies such as American International Group Inc. The panel, which has heard testimony from executives including billionaire Warren Buffett and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, has been beset by partisan disputes and staff departures throughout its 15-month existence.

‘Waste of Money’

“This has been a waste of money from the get-go,” said Lynn Turner, a former chief accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Turner said he doubts the report “will really go out and nail anyone to the wall, so it likely doesn’t matter if it doesn’t come out until after hell has frozen over.”

SEC questioned Warren Buffett's Berkshire on loss accounting

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SEC-questioned-Warren-rb-1660839747.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=3&asset=&ccode=

The SEC has absolutely no say in Warren's world.
None of the investment elite play by any regulated set of rules and apparently they just don't have to.


The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission questioned Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in the second quarter on why it was not writing down large losses on shares in Kraft (NYSE:KFT - News) and US Bancorp (NYSE:USB - News), but the company insisted its accounting was right

In an April letter, the SEC asked Berkshire why it was not recording write-downs on shares with $1.86 billion in unrealized losses, all of which had been in that position for at least a year.

Given the duration of those losses, the SEC said they appeared to be more than temporary and as such should have been written down.

In a detailed response, Berkshire Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg said most of the losses with more than 12 months' duration as of December 31 were concentrated in Kraft and U.S. Bancorp, shares it had acquired in 2006 and 2007.

Report: Algorithm Set Off 'Flash Crash' Amid Stressed Market

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703859204575525973854203534.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEADNewsCollection

What the SEC fails to report to you is that Algorithm trading is a very common use now by the Trade Industry. It's called HFT (high frequency trading). It's a market rig that makes money by creating illusion.
Computers are trading computers to make it look like there is liquidity creating volume of buys and sells. It should be against the law instead of widely used.

Federal regulators investigating the causes of the May 6 "flash crash" concluded a large trader's use of a computer trading system to sell futures contracts led to a rapid and sudden selling that triggered additional selloffs in an already unstable market

Investors, Regulators Laid Path to 'Flash Crash'

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...LEFTTopStories

Has anyone who makes or breaks set in place regulations ever thought about the future consequences of what they're doing? Because it doesn't seem to me as if the thought has ever entered their mind.

As the Securities and Exchange Commission finalizes its report on the May 6 "flash crash," it is being forced to confront the fallout of its own decisions—which Wall Street sought and cheered—that ushered in an era of fast trading dispersed across dozens of venues.

But the flash crash, he says, shows there have been "huge, unintended consequences."

Judge balks at SEC's settlement with Citigroup

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/16/AR2010081604807.html




A federal judge refused on Monday to accept a $75 million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Citigroup, marking the second time this year that a judge has questioned whether the agency had exacted the proper sanction from a major bank.

During a hearing on the settlement, Judge Ellen S. Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia raised questions about the SEC's investigation into Citigroup, and how it decided on the size of the penalty and on the individual executives who also face sanctions, according to lawyers who were present. She asked why company shareholders must ultimately bear the price of the sanction, and why the agency charged only two executives with wrongdoing when more senior executives were involved.

Huvelle demanded additional information from the SEC and Citigroup, ordering the parties to file briefs and scheduling a hearing for late September.

GE fined 23 million by SEC

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/GE-pays-23M-to-settle-Iraq-apf-2815785122.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=

Another fine, which amounts to a drop in the bucket of money that GE has made off of it's corporate contracts from the United States Government during it's on going invasion of Iraq. But what the heck GE will surely recoup any loss it might have incurred from it's Iraq indiscretions, over in Afghanistan.
How convenient

GE to pay $23 million to settle SEC charges over oil-for-food kickbacks in Iraq

General Electric Co. will pay $23.4 million to settle federal charges that some of its subsidiaries paid illegal kickbacks to the Iraqi government in order to win contracts under a U.N. program.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil complaint filed Tuesday in federal court that GE subsidiaries gave cash, computers, medical supplies and other goods worth $3.6 million to the Iraqi health and oil ministries from 2000 to 2003.

The SEC alleged the kickbacks were in return for contracts to supply medical and water purification equipment under the United Nations' oil-for-food program, which provided humanitarian aid to prewar Iraq.

Cheryl Scarboro, head of the SEC's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit, said GE "failed to maintain adequate internal controls to detect and prevent these illicit payments."

GE agreed to pay a $1 million penalty and give up about $22.5 million in profit and interest earned from the transactions. The company does not admit or deny wrongdoing under the settlement. GE also said that the Department of Justice has closed its own investigation into the matter.

GE pays $23M to settle Iraq kickback charges

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/GE-pays-23M-to-settle-Iraq-apf-2815785122.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=

Another fine, which amounts to a drop in the bucket of money that GE has made off of it's corporate contracts from the United States Government during it's on going invasion of Iraq. But what the heck GE will surely recoup any loss it might have incurred from it's Iraq indiscretions, over in Afghanistan.
How convenient

GE to pay $23 million to settle SEC charges over oil-for-food kickbacks in Iraq

General Electric Co. will pay $23.4 million to settle federal charges that some of its subsidiaries paid illegal kickbacks to the Iraqi government in order to win contracts under a U.N. program.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil complaint filed Tuesday in federal court that GE subsidiaries gave cash, computers, medical supplies and other goods worth $3.6 million to the Iraqi health and oil ministries from 2000 to 2003.

The SEC alleged the kickbacks were in return for contracts to supply medical and water purification equipment under the United Nations' oil-for-food program, which provided humanitarian aid to prewar Iraq.

Cheryl Scarboro, head of the SEC's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit, said GE "failed to maintain adequate internal controls to detect and prevent these illicit payments."

GE agreed to pay a $1 million penalty and give up about $22.5 million in profit and interest earned from the transactions. The company does not admit or deny wrongdoing under the settlement. GE also said that the Department of Justice has closed its own investigation into the matter.

Wall Street Still Doesn’t Have a Sheriff

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/opinion/26sauer.html

So what it all boils down to is that Wall Street will continue to carry on as it pleases, no matter what the consequences are to not only the United States economy but the worlds as well, justified under the guise, that it's what's best for the investor, who should never be punished over the choices of an "artificial being"
Some how it amazes me that no one has ever thought to unplug the "artificial being"
(retract it's corporate charter)for the safety of mankind.

The question of how best to discipline what Chief Justice John Marshall in 1819 called “an artificial being, invisible, intangible and existing only in contemplation of law” is indeed vexing. A corporation can’t be put in jail, its fines are ultimately paid by investors not responsible for the misconduct, and a court order forbidding future violations merely shelves the issue until the next occurrence.

In 19th-century America, permissive incorporation laws and rapid economic development led to the rise of the large corporation, which, in turn, led to a century of expanding federal regulation. Most measures regulated certain forms of conduct and prohibited others, specifying fines for failure to comply. There was little consideration given to questions of when, as a matter of practical legal policy, an artificial entity should be treated as if it were a person.

The S.E.C. wasn’t forced to grapple with the issue until 1990, when Congress greatly expanded its power to seek financial penalties from corporate violators. (Before then, companies could shrug off civil orders as a passing embarrassment.)

Initially, however, the agency made infrequent use of this new authority. Its staff saw fining public companies as harmful to shareholders, the very people the S.E.C. was created to protect. It also feared that managers would tap their corporate treasuries to buy their way out of individual liability.

S.E.C. Settling Its Complaints With Goldman

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/business/16goldman.html?_r=1&ref=global-home


If approved by a Federal Judge, Goldman gets off the hook for fraud for a paltry little sum.
America THIS is unacceptable.
Fraud is fraud on any level,and should not be considered just a piss poor business practice that can be made to disappear by making a cash contribution to the SEC.
They make Federal prisons for the crap that Goldman was practicing.
The allowance of a payoff with just a fine for committing fraud in itself makes our whole Justice system nothing more than a joke.
Don't accept this garbage as a solution for the answering of fraud.
This option would not be given to you!



WASHINGTON — Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $550 million to settle federal claims that it misled investors in a subprime mortgage product as the housing market began to collapse, officials said Thursday.


S.E.C. Accuses Goldman of Fraud in Housing Deal (April 17, 2010)

If approved by a federal judge in Manhattan, the settlement would rank among the largest in the 76-year history of the Securities and Exchange Commission, but it would represent only a small financial dent for Goldman, which reported $13.39 billion in profit last year.

News of the settlement sent Goldman’s shares 5 percent higher in after-hours trading,

Crisis Panel to Probe Window-Dressing at Banks

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Crisis-Panel-to-Probe-nytimes-2931583475.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=

These banking practices are world wide and are still ongoing. Why you ask? Because the banks have infiltrated world governments to such an extent that they now actually make policy.


It’s an open secret on Wall Street that many big banks routinely — and legally — fudge their quarterly books.

But now Washington is taking a hard look at a range of maneuvers that help banks dress up their financial statements, and raising some uncomfortable questions about banks’ bookkeeping.

The techniques in question, which are normally relegated to the shadows of finance, are expected to be thrust into a public spotlight on Wednesday by the federal committee that is investigating the causes of the financial crisis. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is expected to focus most sharply on the way banks slim down their balance sheets before reporting their results and on loans they receive from entities like special-purpose vehicles and hedge funds, which are allowed to operate with little public disclosure.

What is perhaps surprising is that many of the practices that enabled investment banks like Lehman Brothers to mask their deteriorating finances during the crisis are still wide open — and still being employed by other banks.

Before it collapsed, Lehman crossed the line with a stratagem that enabled it to hide $50 billion, according to a report on the bankruptcy released earlier this year by a court-appointed examiner.

The big question is the extent to which other major banks used, and still use, creative financing techniques, and whether they, like Lehman, broke any rules.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining the borrowing practices of nearly two dozen financial companies. It is unclear if the S.E.C. will turn up any wrongdoing.

But industry analysts say that, even now, many financial companies routinely obscure their assets and risks in their quarterly financial statements through a variety of practices.

Lawmakers: local govts. lost $1.7B due to Lehman

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6966881.html

The question is, why should the government( The taxpayer) have to reimburse the municipalities and local governments for the deliberate misconduct by the banks or the SEC?
It's time to make the banks and the SEC responsible for their own short comings in their excessive need to feed the greed on a prey that was all to easy to dupe, and one that should have never been seen in the cross hairs of their target goals.

Two lawmakers say Lehman Brothers' historic collapse cost school districts and local governments millions, forcing many to make major cutbacks.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said 40 municipalities nationwide lost around $1.7 billion after the firm went under. She is introducing legislation that would require the federal government to compensate those governments.

At a hearing Tuesday probing what led to Lehman's collapse, Eshoo said San Mateo County, which is in her district, lost $155 million.

Lehman's meltdown in September 2008 was the biggest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. It threw global financial markets into crisis.

Another lawmaker said numerous governments suffered huge losses.

“These were school districts and local governments that made investments that they believed were conservative,” said Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo. “They trusted that federal regulators were keeping a watchful eye on companies like Lehman Brothers.”

The former chief executive for Lehman is scheduled to testify at the hearing, which will probe a bankruptcy examiner's report that the firm masked $50 billion in debt.

The examiner, Anton Valukas, however, criticized the company and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lehman, he said, “was significantly and persistently in excess of its own risk limits,” he said in prepared remarks. The SEC, meanwhile, “was aware of these excesses and simply acquiesced.”

Goldman's "Interlocking" relationships

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/2215-Goldmans-Interlocking-Relationships.html

Yes I know I already posted this, but Karl has such a way with words, I laughed and then felt impelled to share his thoughts with you.

who is head of ACA was married to

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vicky-..._b_542154.html

This story is gonna get good

ACA had a horrible reputation," he told me, which led me to ask the obvious question so why would Goldman want ACA's stamp as selection manager on the CDO they were marketing? Fabrice Tourre, the 31-year-old named as the architect of Abacus, is quoted as insisting that Goldman wanted ACA's brand name and "credibility" on the CDO.

My source told me to check out who the head of ACA was married to. "I think you'll find it's a senior woman at Goldman Sachs," he said.

Well, yep, it is.

UPDATE 6-Goldman Sachs charged with fraud by SEC

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1614841320100416?type=marketsNews


Paulson might not be guilty of fraud, but what about "Insider trading"


The SEC lawsuit announced on Friday concerns ABACUS, a synthetic collateralized debt obligation that hinged on the performance of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities, and which the regulator said Goldman structured and marketed.

According to the SEC, Goldman did not tell investors "vital information" about ABACUS, including that Paulson & Co was involved in choosing which securities would be part of the portfolio.

The SEC also alleged that Paulson took a short position against the CDO in a bet that its value would fall.

In a statement, Paulson & Co said it did buy credit protection from Goldman on securities issued in the ABACUS program, but did not market the product.

SEC quizzes US banks over accounting practices

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/7536683/SEC-quizzes-US-banks-over-accounting-practices.html

Hey.... are you guys doing that to?
Lol NOW THEY ASK
Shouldn't they already KNOW the answer to that question?
Any bank that took TARP money should submit to an auditing of their books now
"The letter" leaves it open for self regulation again, and hiding and avoiding secrets is their favorite game.


The US’s leading financial regulator is quizzing major Wall Street banks and insurance firms to ensure that they are not using the secretive off-balance sheet techniques which in part led to the downfall of Lehman Brothers.


The SEC has sent letters to the chief financial officers of the US’s 24 biggest financial institutions to ensure that such techniques have not and are not being used.

The requests demand specific information about the use of repurchase agreements, as well as for how such agreements are accounted for and disclosed to investors.

Fed to look into insurance contracts on Greek debt

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fed-to...70230.html?x=0

What a joke. The FED rather than the FBI is going to "look into" what Sachs and the others have pulled.



Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers Thursday that the central bank is looking into Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms' use of a sophisticated investment instrument to make bets that Greece will default on its debt.

Bernanke said the Fed is looking into companies' use of credit default swaps, a form of insurance against bond defaults. Bernanke made the comments at the start of a Senate Banking Committee hearing, where the Fed chief delivered his twice-a-year economic report to Congress.

"Obviously, using these instruments in a way that intentionally destabilizes a company or a country is counterproductive, " Bernanke said, adding that the Securities and Exchange Commission probably will be looking into this matter as well.

New York AG files charges against BofA, ex-CEO Lewis and ex-CFO Price

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/83700.html

The SEC thinks that a fine of 150 million will make the stench of FRAUD disappear.
Because that's the way big business boo boos always get made better.
It's called a kiss off


New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo today announced that his office is filing civil charges against former Bank of America Corp. chief executive Ken Lewis, former chief financial officer Joe Price and the Charlotte bank.

The charges are the latest legal fallout from a long-running investigation of the bank's Jan. 1 acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.

In a news conference this morning, Cuomo said his office is charging the bank with securities fraud because it "understated" Merrill fourth-quarter 2008 losses to investors in order to win approval of the deal at a December 5, 2008 shareholder vote. It then turned around and "overstated" its ability to legally escape the deal in order to obtain $20 billion in government bailout funds, Cuomo said. Merrill also paid out $3.6 billion in bonuses to its employees in December of 2008.

The Securities and Exchange Commission this morning also said it filed a motion seeking court approval of a proposed settlement in which Bank of America would pay $150 million and strengthen corporate governance practices to settle charges that the company did not properly disclose bonuses and losses as part of its Merrill Lynch & Co. acquisition